Yes, I gave up. I finally got myself a smart socket so that I can be lazy and turn on whatever device I want wirelessly, without moving a finger.

Jokes aside, smart home gadgets and appliances are the future, so it was just a matter of time before I’d get one of these gadgets, more specifically a WiFi Smart Socket. But, now that I did, is it worthy it? Does it really make my life any easier? Let’s find out in the full review!

Pay to be Lazy

The BlitzWolf WiFi Smart Socket is one of the best rated devices of this kind over on Amazon and it deserves to be so, in my opinion. You understand it’s not a cheap toy when you first hold it in your hands, it’s heavy and it’s made of high-quality plastic. I can definitely see this thing lasting years, unless something goes wrong inside, but that’s quite hard to tell without opening it.

Once out of the box, there really isn’t much to do other than plugging it in a wall socket. My wall socket is near my desk, with my PC and dual monitor setup, above it we find the AC, which is actually what I want to “control” with the smart socket.

I did indeed buy BlitzWolf’s device to both control the AC unit remotely if need be and to check how much electricity it draws from the wall at a specific time, daily and monthly.

After a really easy pairing setup – simply hold the power button and then look for it on your phone – the smart socket was “magically” connected to the internet. I could now turn it off and on remotely, check power consumption, set schedules and whatnot.

Once everything was up and running, I started playing with the app, which is probably the less nice thing about the entire setup. It’s one of those generic apps that work with all the devices of this type, which is both a good and a bad thing. Good because you can connect various types of smart gadgets using a single app and bad because a dedicated app made by BlitzWolf would probably bring more specific settings for every device they produce and so on. That said, the app just works, so I can’t really complain.

Another nice thing about the app is that it’s recognized both by IFTTT and the Google Assistant, so I was able to set it up in a way that would – for example – turn on the socket when I get near home, turning on the AC and turning it off when I leave. I ended up not doing that as I don’t really need to find by room winter cold as I come from the summer heat. Plus, I do not know for certain that switching the AC on and off like this won’t reduce its lifespan. Thus I stopped using this feature.

What’s cooler than IFTTT is Google’s Assistant. Through the app I could indeed command Google to switch the socket and I could even ask it in what status the socket was, either on or off. The Assistant was always able to understand it, which surprised me. Once again though, I stopped using this feature cause I can already use the AC remote, asking Google to do it for me doesn’t really make sense, does it? Not when I’m already in the same room at least.

So, what did I actually use the $20 smart socket for? Well, as I mentioned earlier, I really wanted to know what’s the power consumption of my new AC unit. And now I can, thanks to this device.

I reckon it’s kind of a waste for this type of gadget but at the moment I’m totally fine with it. In future, once I’ve learned how much electricity AC draws on average, I’ll probably find a better use for it. Most likely connecting it to something less “advanced” or easy to break or expensive, such as a light bulb, light strip or similar device.

Overall though, I’m really happy with my purchase and I warmly suggest everybody going with this brand that has been tested and I now trust, instead of going with less known brands just to save a buck or two.

Some specifications for the nerds out there:

Material：VO Fireproof Material

Maximum Total Power Output：3840W

AC Frequency：50-60Hz

Operating Temperature：-10℃~60℃

You can get the BlitzWolf WiFi Smart Socket EU variant on your local Amazon store or Banggood ($14.99) to save some extra bucks.

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